I get excited when I encounter a new author, especially one whose book(s) have captivated me. These discoveries are one of the benefits of being a reviewer and blogger. After I read The Boundary Stone by Gail Avery Halverson, I knew she was the next author I wanted to interview. Lucky for me, she agreed to take time away from writing her next book to answer a few questions.
ME: What energizes you to write?
Halverson: I am energized to write when I find a great story idea, and have a clear picture of where that story will go – a solid sense of the beginning, the middle and the end. I tend to see the story as a movie, although honestly, sometimes I can only see one scene or several random scenes at a time. If I have patience to let the ideas marinate for a bit, it all starts to come together and the writing flows. Thinking about the world I’m creating while doing nearly anything else except writing sometimes brings about those exciting moments of inspiration when a plot puzzle or a character puzzle piece falls together. I write every day, and if I’m having trouble moving forward, it’s usually because I’m not seeing the story clearly enough. If that happens, I’ll relax into it and go back and edit what I’ve already written. Usually that process clears the weeds and I am energized to move forward again.
ME: Are you currently working on a novel? If so, can you tell me a little bit about it?
Halverson: I am! I’ve just begun the sequel to “The Boundary Stone,” which will be a continuation of the various stories from the first book. There were so many amazing scientific discoveries made in England during the latter half of the 17th century, along with so many fascinating people who came together to examine their collective knowledge. They were really beginning to connect the dots in medicine, the arts and sciences, architecture and so many other disciplines. The sequel will be an intersection of the fictitious characters from book one, along with several of the actual people and events making history during that time.
ME: Do you have a favorite genre/topic that you like to write about?
Halverson: I am a big fan of historical fiction. I love reading and writing about the very real lives of the people who came before us. The way they lived, who they loved, their humor, their troubles, and their joys – it’s all fascinating to me. “The Boundary Stone,” is set in 17th century England, but I’m equally intrigued by many other historical time periods. I’m not the biggest fan of stories about people who make terrible choices that really muck up their lives and the lives of people around them. What I really love are stories about good people leading quiet lives who are thrown into circumstances far beyond their control and the way they figure things out – making history in the process.
ME: The subtitle for The Boundary Stone is The Stockbridge Series Book 1. Do you have a plan for a set number of books in the series?
Halverson: There will absolutely be a second in the series, and possibly a third, as I can see this family (for various reasons) immigrating to the Colonies. However, after completing the second book, I may be ready to explore other subjects. We’ll have to see as the second one comes to an end.
ME: Where did you get the idea for The Boundary Stone?
Halverson: I am one of those people who will happily read anything; newspapers, medical journals, the Enquirer, books on nearly any subject and almost anything else that catches my interest. I don’t keep a journal, but every now and again, a story will bubble up in my memory over and over. That’s what happened when I read the story of Eyam, England (known as The Plague Village), and the self-sacrifice of the townspeople who voluntarily quarantined themselves within the village boundaries to keep the plague from spreading further into England. Although nearly 80% of the villagers died, I could not get the bravery of these people out of my mind – and that’s when I knew I had to write a story about it. About the same time that I read the Eyam story, I also read in a medical journal that a philosophical shift in medicine was beginning to take hold in the latter part of the 17th century. Medicine was beginning to move from the idea of helping people die to trying to figure out how to save their lives. I began to wonder if a (handsome, of course :)) young doctor with this new philosophy had been in the village – would the outcome in Eyam have been different? Would more villagers have lived? That idea formed the basis of my story.
ME: How much research did you do for The Boundary Stone?
Halverson: Honestly, a great deal. It was extremely important to me to get the details right – down to the smallest pattypan in the Abbey kitchen. My rule was that if I had at least one source verifying a fact, or if something happened to at least one person during that time period, it was fair game for the book. Ham House (a country mansion) in Richmond-upon-Thames, actually had a real bathtub in 1665. I thought that if one aristocratic woman had a bathtub, a very competitive character in “The Boundary Stone” (Aunt Viola) would find a way to have one, too! The scientific and medical details are period specific, as well. I may have taken a few liberties with words (there are three you won’t find in the dictionary, as I made them up for the specific situation), however everything else, and I mean every single detail is verifiable.
ME: Did you visit Wells and London while you were writing? Do you feel it is important to see the location you are writing about?
Halverson: I have indeed been to London, as well as visiting the countryside and the beautiful little stone villages, the country homes and the castles of England, Scotland and Ireland. I’m completely in awe of the ingenuity and craftsmanship involved in the centuries-old construction and the fact that these structures still stand today. (I also wonder endlessly about the lives of the people who built, worked and lived in them….)
ME: Did you have to edit out scenes that you like in The Boundary Stone? If so, can you describe one for me?
Halverson: I am very linear, in that I know pretty much where the story is headed and how it will end before I start, so I was very disciplined in the execution. There is one scene I edited down because I thought the story would take one of the characters to India, but there simply wasn’t enough space within the 100,000 word count to explore that story, so I trimmed a great deal of that particular thread.
ME: Where do you feel the most creative?
Halverson: I have my most creative thoughts while lying in bed, either before falling asleep or just after waking up. In those quiet minutes, I let my mind wander through the ‘world’ I’m creating to plan what I’ll work on next. In terms of the actual writing, I have tried nearly every room in the house, moving from the kitchen table, to the dining room table, to the den, and a small office, but I finally settled on the couch in the family room, feet up on the coffee table. I write from nine o’clock in the morning until noon, and again from three until six o’clock in the afternoon. To set the mood, I play classical music on the television for research and writing days, and jazz for editing days.
ME: Do you keep a journal or notebook where you write down ideas?
Halverson: I sometimes write ideas down on 3 x 5 cards and stick them in a drawer – then promptly forget which drawer. I figure the good ideas will find their way back to my frontal lobe – at least I hope they do…!
ME: Do you have any advice for someone that is just starting out?
Halverson: The best piece of advice I ever read was from a book on writing by Janet Evanovich. She said that once she decided to write, she (paraphrasing) “treated it like a job, and showed up.” In other words, she was disciplined in writing on a schedule and kept to it. She also decided to tell people that she was writing a book, that way, her feet would be held to the fire. I can testify that that idea really works!
ME: Did you always know you were going to be a writer?
Halverson: I always enjoyed writing, but I also always held the profession in such high regard that I never thought that I could actually be one. Writers span the gamut from genius to hack, and what held me back from writing a novel for so long was the worry that I could never write to the genius level – and the very real fear that I might be a hack. What finally freed me from those limiting thoughts was a bargain I made to myself. I wouldn’t aim for genius, I would aim for really good – and entertaining. If I’ve entertained anyone with the book, I’ve done what I set out to do and I’m happy.
ME: What is the hardest thing for you when writing?
Halverson: Sitting still. Literally. I can’t do it for very long. My house gets really clean while I’m writing. I vacuum or dust just to get up for a few minutes. I also spend time on the exercise machine in between scenes, just to stay active.
ME: Is there any person or author that inspired you to write?
Halverson: Every single writer I’ve ever met or read! I really like the clean style of Ernest Hemingway, the sheer poetry of Gabriel Garcia Marquez’s sentences, and the comic sassiness of Janet Evanovich – but as I said earlier, I will read nearly anything as long as I’m entertained. And, I’m easily entertained…
ME: You are also a playwright and composer of musical plays. What was different about writing a novel?
Halverson: In a screenplay or script, you write only what you will see or hear – and nothing else. It’s such a streamlined process that to involve the other senses was extremely daunting at first – but when I jumped into it, I found that it’s so much more fun to have every sense available to create a scene. The downside is that it takes about three months to write a children’s musical play, about six months to write a full movie script, and nearly nine months to write a novel. That’s a whole lot of sitting… :)))
Author: Gail Avery Halverson
Pub Date: 16-Nov-2016
Rating: 5 Stars
In addition to being a novelist, Gail Avery Halverson, is a playwright and composer of musical plays. She holds a degree from the University of California – Davis, in Communications/English Literature. She lives with her family in Northern California where she is currently working on the sequel to her debut novel The Boundary Stone. You can purchase her book on Amazon.